Critically ill man dies in curfew-bound Madhya Pradesh town

Bhopal, Oct 15 (IANS) A critically-ill man in Madhya Pradesh’s curfew-bound Burhanpur town died for want of treatment Wednesday, police said.”A resident of Shikarpura locality, Mohammad Rafique, was critically ill for the past few days and was undergoing treatment at his home. His condition deteriorated this morning and he died as he could not be taken to hospital in time due to imposition of curfew,” one of his family members said.

The communal tension in the town, over 300 km from here, began Thursday night when some people pelted stones at a religious procession passing through the Gandhi Chowk area. The violence that followed has claimed nine lives and left 30 people injured. Over three dozen shops and half a dozen houses were also torched in different areas of the town.

The town has been under curfew since then with short relaxations only for women and children to purchase essential commodities.

“Curfew was relaxed Wednesday also for two hours from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. for women only and no untoward incident was reported,” said District Collector Caroline K. Deshmukh.

“Another two-hour relaxation is from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. for women, she added.

Senior Congress leader Aslam Sher Khan has, meanwhile, alleged that the communal violence in Burhanpur was the result of a conspiracy hatched by the state government and the local administration.

Khan was deputed by the state Congress president Suresh Pachouri to visit Burhanpur and assess the situation there.

“The conspiracy appears to have been hatched with an eye on the coming assembly elections since the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wants to polarise communities along religious lines there,” Khan said.